venture capital perspective for social change

I gave a short, fast talking speech to the DGREE conference on how people seeking change should think like Venture Capitalists (in this case, educators, but applicable across multiple goals).

View it HERE

Cars are too safe+ tightrope walkers needed

Cars today are far safer than they were 40 years ago.  And that’s a problem — at least in one respect.  Since cars are safer, people drive more poorly.  A reinforcing feedback loop exists as well.  Since I pulled out in front of you and your new, high powered brakes allowed you to go from 60 to 15 in 2 seconds, then I can pull out in front of lots of people like you.  Since I didn’t use my turn signal and no one hit me, why bother to take my hand from my cell phone or double tall latte to use that indicator switch?

It’s really no wonder then that, while cars get safer, highway fatalities remain the same.  Safer cars create bad behavior and bad habits, since there is less cost to getting it wrong.

This is also true of  other social problems in the country, where improving the situation has led to unintended consequences.  We are a wealthy country.  And one of our biggest poverty problem is not starvation, or food insecurity it’s obesity.  “The highest rates of obesity occur among population groups with the highest poverty rates and the least education” according to Drewnoski and Specter.  We have nobly subsidized food, particularly corn and other inputs to factory processed food, and made food inexpensive.  The result is we are the only country that has an obesity problem tied to poverty.  There are over 1 Billion food insecure people in the world, it’s no wonder that some of them struggle to understand us.

There are more examples.  Since it is really hard to starve in this country, it’s no longer that important to get an education.  We are the most successful economy and political system in the world today, but we have a lower percentage of high school graduates than Panama, Mauritius, Korea, and Australia.  While we have yet to realize it on an individual basis, our graduation rates have fallen behind Tajikistan.  I suspect it’s much more difficult to obtain an education in Tajikistan, where 20% of the population lives on less than $1.25 a day, yet more people do it.

A social infrastructure that protects the less fortunate is incredibly important.  Some folks fall on hard times.  Others may never be able to get back on their feet again.  But in aggregate, across the US population, if we lower the cost of adverse behavior, it seems obvious that we will continue to get adverse behavior.  A “social safety net” works best when there are people attempting the tightrope that is above it.  The net catches the missteps, the falls, the injuries.  Then, the system should provide a ladder to access the tightrope again, and an encouraging audience clapping for more attempts.

That system, let’s call it the “Investing in America” system, will generate more tightrope walkers.  And tightrope walkers (or less euphemistically, entrepreneurs, scientists, knowledge workers and service providers) earn lots more money than safety net sitters.  That allows us to reinvest in better safety nets and ladders.  Thus, no tightrope walkers, no money for safety nets.

How many schools can a BMW build?

I just replaced my old car with a slightly less old car of similar type and status.  And the intervening 8 years has brought some strange changes.

I now have a rearview mirror that automatically dims, windshield wipers that adjust to the rain conditions, and a passenger side rearview mirror that points down so I can see the curb when backing up.  Oh, and it’s also the world’s most expensive iPhone bluetooth speakerphone.

While I basically wanted a car with less than 150,000 miles, what I got was overkill.  It needs to get me places safely, but there is a lot of stuff to go wrong in this car, like the run-flat tire pressure sensors (originally developed for military vehicles) that are giving me a warning light even though the tires are filled.

I hate it.  But not because it’s a bad car.  It’s a fabulous car.  I hate it because I am, and you are, all attracted to these bells and whistles like moths towards a flame.  A simpler car would be more reliable, just as safe, lighter and more fuel efficient, and less likely to break-down.  It’s a barrier for us, though, in part because that car isn’t on the market.  So to paraphrase Ronald Reagan, “BMW, break down this wall” and build quality AND simplicity.  Save me from myself.

Because I want to use the dollar savings to pay for a school for 30 to 60 under-privileged children.  Check out Room to Read on what you could be doing with your seat heaters and two zone air-conditioning system…